Share

Facebook

Tweet

Pinterest

Email

Lewis Hamilton will start the Singapore Grand Prix from pole position after a convincing performance under the lights. It's the first time since the Mika Hakkinen era that the team has secured four pole positions in a row.

Hamilton secured pole with his first run, and on his second he clipped the wall and did not improve. He was the last man over the line in the final session, but he had already locked the pole position.

Pastor Maldonado of Williams earned the second qualifying spot and give himself his best shot at a podium since his win in Barcelona.

Sebastian Vettel topped all three practice sessions and the first part of qualifying, but settled for third starting spot, over half a second shy of Hamilton.

Jenson Button starts fourth in the other McLaren, ahead of championship leader Fernando Alonso. Paul Di Resta backed up Force India's practice pace with a solid sixth place, ahead of Mark Webber and Romain Grosjean, the last named surviving a slide into the wall in Q2. Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg start ninth and 10th for Mercedes. Neither man set a time in Q3, and they thus have a choice of which tyre to use at the start.

Nico Hulkenberg was bounced down to 11th right at the end of Q2 by Schumacher, the Force India driver having looked a certainty for the top 10. An unhappy Kimi Raikkonen starts 12th, while for the ninth time in 14th races Felipe Massa failed to make Q3, and the Ferrari man will start 13th, ahead of Sergio Perez, Daniel Ricciardo, and Jean-Eric Vergne.

Bruno Senna had a disastrous day for Williams. After a crash on Friday he brushed the wall in the third practice session, Q1 and again in Q2. The last incident did enough damage to end his session and leave him stranded in 17th.

Kamui Kobayashi was the unlucky man to join the regulars in failing to get through to Q2, the Japanese driver saying that the team had got lost on setup, and he had no confidence in the car. The Sauber driver, who qualified second in Spa, will start 18th.

Lined up behind him are the usual suspects from the 'new' teams in the form of Vitaly Petrov (who crashed in the third practice session), Heikki Kovalainen, Timo Glock, Charles Pic, Narain Karthikeyan and Pedro de la Rosa.

Marussia driver Pic meanwhile has had 20 seconds added to his race time after passing under red flags in the third practice session.